Santiago of Chile

See also: Santiago

Santiago (more precisely Santiago of Chile , in Spanish Santiago de Chile ) is the Capitale Chile, country of Latin America.

Description

The agglomeration counts more than 5 million inhabitants, which is equivalent to a third of the total population of the country. Santiago is located in the central valley (valle central) which runs on most of the country. In the east, the city is dominated by the Cordillera of the the Andes and in the west the city approaches little by little the Cordillera of the Costa which separates Santiago from the Pacific Ocean and of the Región de Valparaíso.

The town of Santiago includes its agglomeration which forms the Gran Santiago and which is made up of 34 communes: 32 communes of the province of Santiago, plus the communes of Puente Viola and San Bernardo, belonging respectively to the Cordillera provinces and of Maipo. There does not exist metropolitan government for the city. Each commune, managed by a mayor, is in charge with the administrative tasks, the taxation, the services, health and education.

The city the 4300 km length is roughly halfway which the country makes. Arica, to approximately 2000 km, being the last city before the crossing of frontiers of the Peru and Puerto Williams (approx. 2000 km) that located more at the south of the country.

Santiago saw its growth accelerating these last years by the construction of new districts to the periphery, immense poblaciones of houses all to identical and built in prefabricated. The urban spreading out of this city is of this very important fact and contributed to the development of the motor vehicle traffic.

Santiago has a very dense system of bus, the micro (a little chaotic), shared taxis as well as five lines of subway. A new line is in construction and some were or are in work to increase the network.

History

It was founded on February 12th 1541 by Pedro de Valdivia which gave him the name of Santiago del Nuevo Extremo (Santiago, in memory of the Spanish apostle Saint-Jacob). It was founded between the two arms of the river Mapocho , on the sides of the Cerro Santa Lucia (Huelén) . The layout of city was drawn by Pedro de Gamboa according to the colonial standards.

Climate

Santiago has a Mediterranean climate; the summers are hot (more 30°C from November to March) and the relatively soft winters (10°c on average in July). Pluviometry is low there. The season dries corresponding to the southern summer; the rains in general take place during the winter, causing each year of the floods in the districts which do not have adequate sewerage system yet.

Urban structure

Because of the exponential growth of the capital, the agglomeration is organized into various common. Large Santiago are composed at present of 36 communes which saw their populations increasing with the wire of the decades. According to the Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas, in 2000, thirty-six communes form Large Santiago: ! |}

At these 36 communes the urban areas are.

Problems

Like all the big cities of Latin America, Santiago suffers from pollution in winter due to its geographical position in a valley between four mountains. This situation is worsened by a phenomenon of Temperature inversion which traps the pollutants.

In summer, alarms with pollution by the Ozone are also current.

These phenomena are variously felt by the population because of social inequalities. The city being continuous inclined, the districts " riches" (in the east and around Cerro Santa Lucia) undergo less harmful effect than the popular quarters.

Socio-economic problems

The Barrio Viola , high French district, gathers the easy population of Santiago and the country in general. This district is on the sides of the Cordillera of the the Andes. The communes of Tired Cops, Reina, Vitacura, Providencia, Lo Barnechea (with its district of Dehesa) are among the richest communes of the country.

As in many Third World country, the differences between the easy and less easy classes are very large there. The poor districts do not lay out or often did not have the infrastructures necessary like hospital and social services. This difference on the other hand tends to decrease since the various governments launched programmes of improvement of quality and diversity of the services. Without this support the communes concerned, particularly of the southern sector of the city could not they only do it, the financial re-entries due by the various communal taxes not allowing it.

Culture

Santiago with the greatest concentration of cultural institutions of the country.

Universities

Music

There are two symphony orchestras:
  • the Orquesta Filarmonica of Santiago, which occurs in Teatro Municipal;
  • the Orquesta Sinfonica de Chile, depend on Universidad de Chile and plays in the theater of this one.
The historical groups of Chile are:
- Inti-Illimani - Site: www.inti-illimani.cl (in French)
- Quilapayùn
- Los Jaivas

Museums

Among the museums one counts:
  • Museo de Arte Precolombino
  • Museo Historico Nacional
  • Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
  • Museo de Arte Contemporáneo

Twinnings

See too

Related articles

External bonds

  • http://www.ciudad.cl - official site of the municipality
  • http://www.misantiago.cl - interactive Chart of the center of Santiago
  • http://www.transantiago.cl - the site of the new concept of public transport in Santiago lately set up

Simple: Santiago, Chile

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